Bride2Be2017

Hi Ladies! Thanks so much for the information on ballrooms and room blocks. @@tiffanyt If the room was right in front of the terrace then it was likely in Salon Room A or B. I honestly go back and forth between that and Saint Andrews. @@Royaldestinations Thanks for the heads up! Just requested to join. The only thing I'm regretting now is not doing that make-up trail on my speedy trip down there. Man! I do have a person back home that I can go with but I'd have to cover her travel and lodging costs to it can really add up. I'll see if I can ask the group about their experience with the make-up at Zen Spa. @@tiffanyt I dont want to bug your contact too much, but if you can ask her whether or not she used their make-up services and what she thought, that would be super helpful!!! Happy early Thanksgiving everyone!!

@@tiffanyt THANK YOU for this wonderful update!!!! I am so happy to hear such a glowing review from a recent Ziva bride. : ) :) It's getting me even more excited about the wedding! Hopefully you can sort out a point person for your group. My sister in law was more than happy to do it especially since her husband is the best man and her immediate family wont be there. So it's a nice opportunity for her to be a floater while doing what she loves - organizing and weddings. Maybe if you have a guest in the same position (spouse of someone in the bridal party without kids) then they may be up for the task! The water bar is a great idea. Having a spreadsheet to share with the coordinator - excellent suggestion. I'll start putting mine together too. I'm so excited to be at this stage and in such high spirits about the wedding. This is how a bride is supposed to feel leading up to her wedding. It's been a hectic couple of weeks and i'm so happy that my wedding has been the least of my worries. Julianne has been assigned as my wedding coordinator - thrilled. She gave us our tour when we visited and we got on wonderfully. I've decided to go with Elite Media Concepts as a vendor. They will provide the dj, mc, uplights, dance floor, and cinematography. After crunching the numbers it came out even to Ziva including the vendor fee. So far I'm beyond pleased with their portfolio and service. They sent me a customized link to begin building my playlist. I have been keeping a list on my phone for the past 6 months, so transferring it over will be fun for me. The next big thing is just getting my save the dates out and finalizing the room block.. I guess? Did you ladies set up a room block through your TAs? I'm planning to add rooms to the block a little at a time and more once people start booking as needed. I decided to comparison shop on TAs and did end up finding a different TA with lower rates and fantastic contacts at Hyatt - wright travel agency. Havent locked them in officially but will decide soon. In the meantime, the only question I have for your recent bride contact is: where did she have her reception? If indoors, did she have it in the St Andrews or Ballroom Salon 3A? If the ballroom terrace isnt available, I've decided to have the reception indoors and the cocktail hour on the ocean gazebo decks, ceremony still at the sky lounge. Now just trying to decide which ballroom I like best. Decisions, decisions!

@@tiffanyt thanks SO much for sending the additional photos you found, especially since it has shots of the terrace. I'm hoping it becomes available, but the more I think about my vision for the decks the more excited I get for that option too! @@Kcusack89 so glad that you found even better flights and prices for January. Both you and @@tiffanyt are getting married in very comfortable months weather-wise in my opinion. I was there in May and it was absolutely perfect. We have to have our wedding in the summer for various reasons (school teacher in law, sister having a baby in april, the works). I'm a bit worried about the heat in August but think it'll be fine. It was 93 degrees on my sister's wedding day and that was in NY in Sept. Bring on the summer wedding and let's dance the night away in Jamaica, I say! Also @@tiffanyt thanks for the run down on jjbrown's wedding. Thrilled to hear everything went well despite a few hiccups. One of my soon to be sister in laws has graciously offered to help with logistics the day of. She wont be a bridesmaid but loves planning and organizing stuff. So I think we will arrive a few days early and I will walk her through the different locations with my planner and day of she will be able to help lead people around to each part of the wedding and help with any miscellaneous things.

@@Kcusack89 January is a great time to visit, you are doing the big day preview so the hotel rate will be the same right? Also ladies, I thought it might be good to just share any Hyatt Rose Hall wedding pictures/videos we come across online. Here's one I just found: Denise Mason I still like this one better, which I think is currently the most popular online: In His Image I'm hoping to find and share additional photos of weddings here as more brides discover and book this venue. Also, here is information on cruise timetables around the world. I would imagine that popular attractions on the island may get super crowded when cruise ships are docked. So it might be good to check this list first before planning any excursions before or after your wedding date. I wouldnt recommend overwhelming guests with this information, but a good resource for us as we plan. I looked up our wedding dates and we are all clear for 2 days before and after our weddings - nice! Anything beyond that, you might want take a look. Finally, any updates from @@jjbrown? I just realized we will have the same wedding date!!! After much thought, thinking of having the ceremony on the sky lounge after all. It'll be hot, so thinking of providing parasols for guests. Almost certain that my bridesmaids will have parasols instead of bouquets. @@tiffanyt are you having your ceremony on the sky lounge as well?

The rooms: I keep comparing them to the rooms I've seen and stayed in at the Luxury Bahia Príncipe in RB which were huge and pretty much came with a welcome bag - Appleton rum, coffee, and a huge goodie bag of souvenirs if you are willing to listen to the vacaction club pitch. The rooms at Hyatt were smaller and not as glam but well-appointed nonetheless. I liked that they are keeping the classic looking pineapple lamps in the older models. My fiancé is more discerning when it comes to these things but he made the excellent point of how comfy the beds were. So comfortable that we actually considered ordering in dinner from room service. Glad we went out that night though because we had an excellent dinner at Di Roza, amazing cocktails at Fez, caught some shows and a glimpse of a wedding reception on the ballroom terrace. Construction seemingly non-existent. Didn't see any. But they did tell us on our tour that new carpeting was coming to the hallways in the lower category rooms to match the vibe of Hyatts international brand. Blue and sandy hues is the planned color palette rather than the red and pink from the old ritz Carlton design. The junior suites are all remodeled and look as fantastic as the pictures. Those are the rooms with the deep soak tub and open concept multi-level bedroom/sitting area.

@@Kcusack89 glad the photos helped! I moved the album to a private link now because I may use them on my wedding website. We are still working out the date, pro/conning a date in july versus aug but should know soon. I just showed my fiance the pics again and he actually likes the idea of a reception on the decks (good idea @tiffanyt) if we cant get the terrace. I wasn't expecting him to be so open to it so I think we just may go with that now. Decisions, decisions!

The pictures wont upload to my gallery for some reason so I put up a temporary album EDit: @@tiffanyt send me a message and I'll give you the link for pics. I didnt have time to do a make-up trial unfortunately. So hair and makeup is a big thing I'll still need to figure out. Also, regarding our cocktail hour, right now we are planning for the decks. I think we'll forgo live entertainment for the cocktail hour and just have music - reggae vibes and sunset should set the mood for the reception. I haven't quite yet decided on DJ and other vendors yet but doing a lot of research on that today. Looking for vendors with multi-service offerings to minimize the outside vendor fee. I'll let yall know what I find. Hope that the staff and everyone at the hotel are ok. Rain and wind is expected but im hoping everything will be just fine after the storm passes.

Ladies!!! This week went by in a blink. My visit was wonderful! It was short but it definitely was well wroth it and I got all the information I needed to make a decision. We are saying yes to Hyatt! I wont be having my ceremony at the sky deck anymore, instead I want to have the ceremony at the wedding gazebo. It's so nice! Plus, the sky deck would require extra decor in my opinion and it's just one less thing to worry about. They had a wedding going on the Saturday we were there so it was perfect. We got to catch a peek here and there of the different set-up options and day-of planning as it was being executed. Everything was so so well put together and ran smoothly. The wedding was beautiful!!! I took some pictures for us which you can see in my Hyatt Ziva album. Having upload problems right now but it should be up soon, @@tiffanyt - I checked with them to confirm and they said that there is absolutely no set-up or break down fee. I'm going to go with their flowers and decor quoted because i am so ready to just kick my feet up and let them take care of everything. The centerpieces are pricey but the wedding reception I saw last Saturday was STUNNING! So I'm just like ok, do your thang with the centerpieces, Hyatt. The reception we saw was on the ballroom terrace (which is apparently not an official wedding venue so it can only be confirmed 45 days out for your reception so long no one else - company retreat/business meeting - has booked it). I was a bit bummed to hear that but i am hoping we can get the terrace. We can rent it up front for an astronomical fee. We are going to see if we can buy an option for that because my hubby to be feels strongly that the reception has to be there and he doesnt want to leave it to chance. One thing at a time, I'm just glad we have our venue! @@Kcusack89 I know you are planning to head there tomorrow. How are travel plans going? Do you think you will still make the trip? I have been watching the forecast and it looks like Hurricane Matthew will pass by closer to the east coast on Monday. I'm not sure how how far the residual rain and wind will affect your travel but sending you all the good vibes. Even if the weather isnt the best when you visit, just know that the place is beautiful and your day will be spectacular!

@@brierito - congrats and welcome to this forum!! I stayed at Runaway Bay in May while researching venues for our wedding in jamaica and was actually totally surprised with the Luxury Grand Bahia. We originally booked the Grand Bahia and were upgraded to the Luxury Don Pablo Collection upon arrival. Let me say this - you will not be disappointed in the hotel for your stay. We had a blast! But the weddings department leaves much to be desired. Information on the Emerald Package is slow to arrive. In truth I think they are still putting it together details to justify cost differences in having a wedding on the Luxury side rather than the Grand Bahia side. I was able to get from them a listing of what comes with the Emerald Package and the cost. The exact wedding locations will be up to you, and I can send you information on that too. Send me a message and I will send you all the info I have have. I ended up not choosing them because although the resort is wonderful, I just didnt want the stress of planning a wedding with their weddings dept. The Runaway Bay location is just not at the level of service I am looking for when it comes to my actual wedding. One thing I considered was having guests stay at the Bahia and then doing a wedding offsite at Laughing Waters. This would entail you arranging for travel for your guests the day of but that shouldnt be too hard. You will also need to hire a wedding planner to contract all the vendors to execute the wedding off-site, or you can do it yourself if you're feeling up to the task. You have lots of time. Other hotels I looked at were Azul Sensatori (Negril), Round Hill, Half Moon, Jamaica Inn, Royalton, Trident, GeeJam, Secrets, and Hyatt Ziva. If you have questions about any of them, Im happy to help.

@@Kcusack89 thanks so much. I am using Travel Zap. Briana, my agent, has been excellent so far. The company is also based in Chicago. Cant believe I will be seeing the place this weekend. Expectations are high but Im trying to go into it with an open mind.

Hey Ladies! Just a quick update to say thanks so much for your feedback. Been looking at recent trip advisor reviews and many have mentioned construction going on. So looks like the rumors might be true - updates are happening at the hotel so the rates we locked in are quite good and we can expect an even better resort next year. @@tiffanyt I would maybe mention to any guests complaining about the room prices that the value is really quite good considering that I dont think you will find much cheaper in Montego bay at an all-inclusive rate unless you are opting for the Holiday Inn (no judgement here obviously but cmon, it's Jamaica. If you're gonna fly there you should truly treat yourself). I thought the Hyatt group rates were a bit pricey at first, but the initial feedback from family has actually been quite positive regrading cost, especially since it's all inclusive. Once winter hits, and the days get shorter and darker maybe they'll realize how much they need a vacation Site tour at Hyatt is all booked, still need to see if I'll have time to do a make-up trail while there but probably wont. My parents felt that it was imperative we see at least one other place since we are making the trip, so we will also give a look at Ibersostar as well. Also just wondering, what travel agents are you ladies working with? Feel free to PM me with that info or any other info you think would be helpful. Im definitely starting to get excited again and a lot less stressed. Thankful for this community of brides to help with planning.

@tiffanyt @@Kcusack89 Hi Ladies, The last couple of days have been so hectic. In truth I am freaking out a bit. I like the look of Hyatt Ziva so far and we were able to get a date next summer penciled in. My fiance and parents felt like it was important that we see the resort before booking so we are going there NEXT weekend (Sept 24-25). I was feeling really good about the whole thing until I read reviews about the standard hotel rooms at the Ziva. I dont want my guests to fly all the way to Jamaica to be met with paint peeling walls, outdated fixtures, broken a/c and elevators that are apparently "a joke". Has anyone else heard about this? From what I understand there are newer buildings on the Ziva side but those come with a substantial increase in cost. I know that both of you have received some push back regarding guests wanting to stay at other hotels; perhaps they are reading the reviews I am - yikes! By chance has anyone heard anything about plans to remodel the rooms in the old Ritz buildings on the property? This seems to be the biggest issue staying at the Hyatt Ziva. I read a recent trip advisor review that said the Ziva will be completely remodeled in 2 months but that could just be hearsay. Here is the review. My TA was able to lock in the 55% promotion which is wonderful but if most guests wont be staying there, then I will just end up paying for a ton of day passes at $125 a pop (Am I correcting in reading that other 2017 brides were quoted $100?). Plus, the whole point of a wedding is about joining two families together not just two people. I really would prefer that all of my guests stay at the same hotel so that they can bond. Also, it goes without saying that I will bring back as much information as possible from my quick visit next weekend. If you guys have any questions you think I should make sure to ask let me know. My plan is to get a really good video or at least full panoramas of the ceremony, cocktail, and reception areas. So key in helping us plan! I honestly might just bring a tape measurer too. I want to see if it would be possible to drape the two columns toward the back of the deck, otherwise it looks quite bare as guests turn around for their first look at the bride. They have penciled me in for 8/20/2017 and I have chosen sky deck for ceremony, oceanside deck for cocktail, and st andrew's ballroom for reception. (Tis true, only one option for a plated dinner, so may have to go with buffet). I was originally planning for July 2017 but with limited date options, I am going with Aug 20. I hope my TA can score the same rates or Aug 2017 as she did for July 2017. If anyone can PM me the information for Donna Dally Floral Design - that would be soooo appreciated. My current quote for centerpieces is at $250 a pop (daaaaamn). Finally, @@jjbrown I sincerely hope your wedding was everything you dreamed of and more!! Much love from your Hyatt Ziva sister brides <3

@@yardiegyal $9000?? was that in USD or a different currency?

@@tiffanyt thanks for starting this thread! @@Kcusack89 if you could share any info you have after the Big Day preview I'd be so grateful. I'd also love to see the wedding packet that many have talked about with floral arrangements and set up options. I have been going back and forth on having a destination wedding in Jamaica because I couldnt decide on a venue. I recently looked into Hyatt Ziva and am really excited that it may be the place! Hoping to book soon so we can help each other plan. Planning for a July 2017 wedding.